From Bench to Bedside: The Evolution of Tissue-engineered Maxillofacial Reconstruction – Conceptualizing the practicality of in-situ tissue engineering for our patients in the modern era

James C. Melville, DDS, FACS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston UTHealth and specializes in Oral, Head & Neck Oncology, and Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery. He graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2005 and completed a General Practice Residency at the University of California San Francisco in 2006. He completed a residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery in 2012, followed by fellowships in oral, head, and neck oncology and microvascular reconstructive surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital. He was appointed to the UTH OMFS internship director in 2017.

Dr. Melville was awarded the Faculty Educator Development Award (FEDA) in 2019 by the American Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS). An award given to promising young academic surgeons. He was awarded the AAOMS Advocacy Challenge Coin by the AAOMS Board of Trustees and AAOMS Committee on Government Affairs in 2020. AAOMS designed its own Challenge Coin to recognize oral and maxillofacial surgeons who have made significant advocacy contributions on behalf of the Association. The AAOMS Challenge Coin is awarded to those elite few who transcend the efforts of their colleagues to further the specialty through advocacy. Dr. Melville serves as the Vice-President of the Oral & Maxillofacial Section of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) / International Association of Dental Researchers (IADR) and will be become the President in 2023. He was appointed the Vice President of the AAOMS Clinical Interest Group (CIG) in Neurologic Disorders 2021. He also serves on the International Academy of Oral Oncology (IAOO) as a scientific committee member for its 2022 conference.

Dr. Melville is a diplomate and examiner of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and a fellow of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American Academy of Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons, American College of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, and the American College of Surgeons. He has been an invited visiting professor and lecturer at over 15 academic institutions including Case Western University, Columbia University, Harvard/MGH, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, UOP/ Stanford University UCLA, USC, and UCLA.

He has written a Springer textbook on maxillofacial reconstruction and contributed to 25 chapters in textbooks concerning oral and maxillofacial surgery, oncology, maxillofacial reconstruction, microvascular reconstruction, and tissue engineering. In addition, he is the author of more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (JOMS), Triple OOOO Journal, Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Journal of Tissue Engineering, PLOS ONE, Bioengineering & Translational Medicine (Wiley), Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Experimental Dermatology, Japanese Dental Science Review, and of Journal of American Dental Association (JADA).

Simon Young, DDS, MD, PhD, FACS, is Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Dentistry. He completed his DDS at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, in 2003, his PhD at Rice University, Department of Bioengineering, Houston, Texas, in 2008, and his MD at University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 2011. He subsequently completed first an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Residency at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and then a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Immuno-Engineering at Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Young is a Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He is the author of over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has an NIH-funded laboratory that studies biomaterials-based cancer immunotherapies and maxillofacial tissue engineering.